The Centre on Tuesday launched an Android application with which the public can upload pictures of pollution sources of the Ganga river for further action by the authorities concerned.

Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti launched Mobile Bhuvan Android appand Web portal after signing of an MoU between the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) and the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Isro to effectively plan and monitor the Centre’s flagship Clean Ganga Mission in New Delhi on Tuesday, a statement said.

Bhuvan Ganga portal is an exclusive Web portal deployed in Isro Bhuvan’s geoportal with all geospatial layers related to river Ganga.

It will be used as a tool to support decision making and planning for the Clean Ganga Mission. The Mobile Bhuvan app is a user-friendly Android-based application to enable public to collect and report information on various pollution sources that affect the water quality of river Ganga.

This mobile app will provide a platform for crowd sourcing to monitor pollution in river Ganga and enable decision makers to prioritise interventions. The first version of the app is available for download in the Bhuvan Ganga Web portal, the statement added. Users will have to sideload the apk file on their Android phones.

The statement also said that the objective of the MoU is to utilise the geospatial and crowd-sourcing technologies for pollution monitoring in river Ganga.

Speaking on the occasion, Bharti said Isro’s participation in the Clean Ganga Mission is need of hour. She emphasised on focusing the key issues related with the cleaning of river Ganga as the situation demanded, the statement added.